Low-water canoeing on the Boise River

The Boise River is flowing somewhere around 260 cfs and that’s pretty low. My wife, the dog and me decided to run it Easter Sunday for our first Boise River float of the year.

It’s pretty low, especially at diversions. This is the first diverson and we scraped over it. The riffles are really low and you have to pick your line through the channels, which only have about 6 inches of water.

The diversions are difficult because you have to get on the horizon line and hold the canoe steady until you can pick out your route. That means a lot of back paddling. If you’re not an experienced paddler, definitely pull over and scout diversions. The bests option is to portage. They are pretty rocky and you could get hung up on the rocks and end up flipping over.

Although the river is low, it’s still a neat float because you have to really pick your way around rocky areas.